University of Oxford
Bruce Patrick received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oxford, recorded in his biography as Bachelor of Arts (Oxon), the abbreviation for the Latin Oxoniensis. He also held a Bachelor of Laws degree.
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university in Oxford, England, and one of the oldest universities in the English-speaking world. Its arts degrees have traditionally combined a broad liberal education with tutorial teaching in individual colleges.
Bruce Patrick practised as a partner of Maclay Murray & Spens. The firm was founded in Glasgow in 1871 by David Maclay, David Murray and John Spens, and it is generally regarded as the first law practice in Scotland with a specifically commercial focus.
In 2017 the firm announced that it would join the global firm Dentons, the world's largest law firm by number of lawyers. At that time Maclay Murray & Spens had offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London, and it was one of only a few remaining large independent Scottish law firms.
He was admitted to the bar in Scotland in 1975. In Scotland the term bar has traditionally referred to advocates, whereas Writers to the Signet are solicitors, and Scotland's legal system has its own courts and professional traditions separate from those of England and Wales.
Bruce Patrick was a member of the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow. The Faculty was incorporated before 1668 to support and regulate the procurators of the Commissary Court of Glasgow, and it continues to serve the legal profession in Glasgow and West Central Scotland. It maintains a law library that has been kept since 1817, a continuing professional development programme for members, and an auditing service.
He was also a Writer to the Signet. The Society of Writers to HM Signet is an association of Scottish solicitors whose origins date to 1594, and it is part of the College of Justice established in 1532. Its members are entitled to use the postnominal letters WS.
